Where To Sell My Brass Decorations In Minneapolis

Have you lot ever wondered what it takes to outset a business selling vintage decor online? Have y'all felt the nudge to start listing pieces on Etsy just don't know where to kickoff?

Whether you're interested in starting your own business organization or are just curious what goes on behind the scenes, we accept the scoop from vintage seller Christina Gerstner of @thewhitepeppervintage virtually everything involved with selling vintage décor online.

Whenever Christina plans to sell on Instagram stories, she posts a sneak peek of some of the treasures she plans to sell. In this case, she had a retro flower theme with paintings, napkins, lampshades and canisters.

When and how did you start your business organisation?

Christina: I started selling vintage decor in 2011, one twelvemonth after my son was born. I idea for certain that I would eventually go dorsum to my career equally a Montessori teacher once he started school, but I ended up turning my favorite hobby into a full-fourth dimension profession. What began as a way to become rid of some excess vintage that I had lying around turned into the best chore ever.

How long after y'all started your business did information technology take for you to see a profit?

Christina: It didn't have long for me to get my first sale (maybe a few weeks), and then things only took off from there. Etsy was engaging and easy to apply, and I'one thousand very grateful for my beginnings on their platform.

Christina has a collection of embroidered U.S. maps that she hung next to her desk. When her collection got also big, she sold some of them.

Why did you choose to sell on Instagram and Etsy as opposed to a store or flea market?

Christina: I actually tried to sell in a brick and mortar antiquarian co-op, but for several reasons, it wasn't a success. First off, my son was immature at the time and dragging him away from dwelling house to make full and stage a berth in an antique mall wasn't ideal. Plus, it became evident that my inventory wasn't go well-nigh the corporeality of exposure at that place as it was online.

Information technology was disappointing because I wanted to be able to offer large items, like rugs and furniture, in person so I wouldn't take to store and ship them, but it all worked out in the end. I learned how to packet furniture and fabricated good use of the storage space in our dwelling house.

This is one of Christina'south favorite collections. She finds these hands in different sizes, colors and materials, and they make a striking visual when grouped together.

Tin can you break downward your duties as a vintage seller?

Christina: At that place are three chief areas: shopping, selling and packaging.

1. Shopping. This of grade, is the all-time and easiest part. I dear, love, Dear sourcing vintage. It's my favorite pastime and also my greatest stress reliever. The fact that I'grand helping old, forgotten items find new homes makes me feel like I'chiliad doing good.
2. Selling. This looks different depending on which platform I'm using. Instagram is quick and straightforward. I post an item or a group of items on my feed or in my stories and people either become for it or they don't. If they don't, I try once more at some other fourth dimension or I list the item on Etsy. I have a big enough audition that my IG sales are pretty successful, and for that I'm grateful. Listing on Etsy is much more fourth dimension consuming considering I spend a lot more time on photographing and staging if I'1000 going to list it in my Etsy store.
3. Packaging. I spend a lot of time locally sourcing as much complimentary and gently used packing material as possible, so that's fourth dimension on the road and then time spent organizing it all once I bring information technology dwelling house. Packing boxes is where the most time is spent. I don't just wrap something in a sheet of paper and call it a day. Depending on the type of particular, in that location's paper, the Bubble Wrap, then plastic stretch wrap, more newspaper, and then perchance even some cardboard to protect fragile edges and corners. It'south a long, fourth dimension-consuming process, but it'southward worth information technology to avoid having something arrive damaged.

Though Christina is known for filling a vignette with colorful finds, every once in a while she sees the benefits of keeping her setups simple and clean.

How many hours a week do y'all work?

Christina: My piece of work load depends on how much I've sold and how behind I am on listing (I continue a pretty full inventory, so I approximate I'thousand always behind on listing). But on average, I would say 35-45 hours. Of form, that doesn't include the time spent on social media, which is pregnant but necessary. It's merely similar whatever other job—y'all have to put the time in where it counts in order to succeed.

How do you make up one's mind which items y'all sell on Etsy vs. Instagram stories?

Christina: I e'er start by offering new inventory on Instagram. It'due south less time consuming, and I relish it more. It'due south nice to be able to sell things to my followers that I know they will appreciate. I have a running lists of requests that I'k always working on and when I find something, it'southward ideal to sell direct to people I know rather than going through Etsy.

Christina always purchases items to resell that she would enjoy seeing in her own home. It'southward a cohesive look that customers can instantly recognize when looking at her home and her sales.

Where do you source your packing supplies?

Christina: ALL OVER, just I try to get as much as possible free and from local sources. Not a grocery shopping trip goes by that I don't take at least half a cart full of free boxes. I source Styrofoam peanuts and packing paper from Facebook Marketplace (people who accept recently moved oft give them away for gratuitous or charge very petty for them), and at that place are a few local businesses that save their supplies for me after they've unpacked their inventory.

Our local newspaper sells unused newsprint for very little, so I pick upwardly several rolls of that a few times a year. I go gratuitous Priority Mail and Flat Rate boxes and envelopes shipped right to my door by the USPS.

Whatever I don't get locally or for free, I buy online: packing paper from Sam's Social club, stretch wrap from Walmart, packing tape (which I become through a lot of) on eBay, poly numberless from Amazon and, on the rare occasion, specialty boxes from UPS. I'll before long exist starting a series about packing and aircraft in my Instagram stories for anyone who is interested.

Christina resells items she finds at flea markets and manor sales, just occasionally, she'll sell vintage pieces from her home that she's no longer using. This collection contains items she's selling from her kitchen.

How exercise you decide how to toll your items?

Christina: I don't typically buy something to sell unless I tin can at least double or triple my money. It'due south sometimes hard to leave backside items that I love because I won't be able to brand enough on them. Merely considering I sell so much, an particular has to exist worth my time. I also look upwards electric current asking prices on other marketplaces and typically endeavor to compete with those.

Small vintage bloom paintings are Christina's weakness. She's ever fatigued to the intricate details and vibrant colors they bring to her home.

How practise you decide what to purchase in order to sell?

Christina: Is it foreign to say that I like to buy things that speak to me? Sometimes I see things, whether odd or ordinary, that I feel drawn to and have to have. When I become that feeling (and as long every bit the price is reasonable), I rarely hesitate.

I also attempt to buy things that I would be happy to accept in my dwelling house. I find that I'g more enthusiastic almost selling something that I honey versus something that I'k not wild about.

Lastly, I never hesitate to purchase things that I know in that location's a market for, like brass candle holders or original art. Quick and easy sells are a no-brainer.

Christina had originally purchased these vintage shirts, dresses and skirts to wear herself, merely concluded up selling them on her Instagram stories.

What communication do you have for someone who wants to first selling vintage decor?

Christina:

1. Decide which kinds of items you lot want to sell and research Etsy or Paypal'due south fees to decide whether or not it will be profitable for yous.
2. Work on creating a cohesive aesthetic that people will recognize; try to brand it something memorable.
3. Take high quality, uncluttered photos. This is especially important on a platform like Etsy. I shared some tips over on Etsy in 2019.
4. Accept a lot of items ready to sell. On Etsy, it's typically the case that the more you listing, the more than yous'll sell. I used to keep my shop stocked with at least 400 items, but since I started selling regularly on Instagram, I just tin't keep up.
5. Learn how to be plant in a customer's search and familiarize yourself with how Etsy's SEO works.
6. Work on creating a social media post-obit. The more than eyes on your products, the better. Too – don't be afraid to be yourself on social media. I'one thousand more and more than convinced that your customers will desire to come across the real you.
7. Familiarize yourself with how self-employment taxes piece of work. Be prepared to rails your purchases, expenses and mileage, and don't slack. Once tax season comes around, you lot'll be glad you stayed on top of information technology.

Christina Gerstner is a vintage seller who enjoys what she does. "I do the all-time thing ever—I shop for hours on cease and pass along the treasures that I find to those who share my enthusiasm for them," she says. Her porch is oftentimes filled with packages like these most to be shipped off to happy customers.

Visit Christina's Etsy store to see what vintage treasures she has for sale!

Looking for vintage dealers in person? Here are our peak five Mid Century Dealers in the Southwest.

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Related Topics

• selling online
• selling vintage
• vintage business organisation
• vintage decor

Source: https://www.atomic-ranch.com/home-decor/selling-vintage-decor-online/

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